Swordfish Review
by Eugene Novikov (lordeugene_98 AT yahoo DOT com)July 18th, 2001
Swordfish (2001)
Reviewed by Eugene Novikov
http://www.ultimate-movie.com/
"I've heard that the best programmers in the world can do this in 60 minutes. Unfortunately, I need someone who can do it in 30 seconds. Go."
Starring Hugh Jackman, John Travolta, Halle Berry, Don Cheadle. Directed by Dominic Sena. Rated R.
Swordfish begins as an involving heist/hacker thriller and ends as a muddled, incoherent mess. The movie ruins its interesting set-up and undermines it's well-made action sequences by taking a twist too many. It's full of actors and filmmakers who know what they're doing, but they have dedicated themselves to utter nonsense; even if it is, sometimes, guiltily entertaining nonsense.
Right about here I would usually be giving the curious among you the film's plot. I pause here, because I don't know the film's plot. I can give you the set up: Stanley Jobson (Hugh Jackman) is a world-class hacker who has retired from the trade and now endures a pathetic existence, living in a trailer and longing to see his daughter, who was taken away from him by his vindictive ex. One day, as he's hitting golf balls off the top of his makeshift abode, a beautiful woman (Halle Berry) comes to see him. Apparently, her boss Gabriel (John Travolta), a rich supercriminal, has heard tell of Stanley's skills and wants to meet with him. Stanley goes through the motions, refusing her left and right, but inevitably goes. It turns out that Gabriel wants Stanley to help him in a glorified high-tech bank robbery, for a hefty share of the profits.
Does that sound like the plot? Like I said, it's only the set-up, and it's the only part of the movie that's comprehensible or entertaining. Director Dominic Sena, incompetent behind the camera of last year's Gone in 60 Seconds, here shows some flair for chase scenes and action set pieces (the movie's money shot, in which a camera slowly spins 360 degrees around an explosion in slow motion, is almost worth the price of admission). And Travolta, who hasn't made a good movie since A Civil Action, still knows how to entertain; his Gabriel is a fun villain for the film's first half.
And then someone decided that Swordfish needed to be clever. Let's get something straight: well-executed, competent genre movies are in just as short a supply as genuinely original alternatives, and it's no shame to make one of the former if the latter is beyond one's reach (director Jonathan Mostow, he of Breakdown and U-571, is building a solid reputation doing exactly that). This might have been a wonderful movie had it simply settled down and gotten itself organized. If you can't execute a good plot twist, don't do it.
Swordfish doesn't heed that advice. The good guys and the bad guys switch places at least 526 times, and after a while I gave up keeping track of who's who. The ending itself is a total head-scratcher; I don't want to give it away for those who somehow stay with the movie, but suffice it to say that a certain character should have died but miraculously (and there doesn't seem to be any other explanation) didn't.
What the hell is the problem with a perfectly decent heist movie? All the ingredients are here, but Swordfish dumps half of them out. If you see it, see it for Travolta, who goes back to being a "serious" actor later this year with some sort of child-in-jeopardy thriller, and feel free to leave early.
Grade: C
Up Next: Lara Croft Tomb Raider
©2001 Eugene Novikov
Originally posted in the rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup. Copyright belongs to original author unless otherwise stated. We take no responsibilities nor do we endorse the contents of this review.
